it's time to bring a vote on the epstein files to the floor. and stop hiding the truth to the american people. that's all they want, the truth. the american people deserve the truth. with this vote we are closer. and even will hold those in power accountable that are hiding from the american people. the era of obstructionism and secrecy ends today. and it ends with a name. adelita grijalva. and we will not rest until justice prevails. with that, i want to introduce the democratic caucus chair, pete aguilar.

rep. aguilar: thank you, chairman. it's an honor to be with my congressional hispanic colleagues, as well as members of the democratic caucus and to welcome adelita grijalva to our ranks. let's be clear. this moment should have happened two months ago. but speaker johnson and republican leadership seem to use their special election to set a new record, the longest time a member elect has had to wait to be sworn in. there is no justification to deny arizonans of their representation, and speaker johnson literally twisted himself into knots trying to explain it. but we all know the real reason. donald trump and republican leadership are hell bent on keeping the epstein files hidden from the american people. as leader jeffries says, they are running a pedophile protection program. today the house oversight committee obtained more damning emails from jeffrey epstein's estate that raised serious

questions about donald trump's involvement in mr. epstein's crimes. as recently as today, the white house was trying to switch gop votes on the petition to continue these cover-up efforts. now with representative grijalva in congress, we will have the votes necessary to force transparency and accountability. and importantly, arizonans will finally have a member who's able to carry out their work to represent their interests and to be their voice in congress. i'm proud of the work congresswoman grijalva has already done for her constituents while being wrongly kept out of congress. she has gone above and beyond, and i look forward to working with her in the years to come as we lower costs, save healthcare, and improve the lives of the american people. with that, i'd like to now introduce a ranking member on the small business committee, nydia velasquez.

rep of alaska's -- rep. velasquez: thank you, mr. aguilar, and adriano espailla,, adriano espaillat, chair of the congressional hispanic caucus. speaker johnson has finally sworn in adelita grijalva, and the people of arizona's 7th congressional district once again have representation in congress. for seven weeks, the speaker left the people of arizona 7th without representation, without access to constituent services and without a voice here in washington. it was a cynical, shameful, and unprecedented, and all because the speaker wanted to delay the release of the epstein files for as long as possible at the direction of his boss, donald trump.

a 34-time convicted felon, sexual abuser, and longtime friend of pedophile sex trafficker jeffrey epstein. if there was any doubt, just look at what happened today. as adelita prepared to be sworn in, the white house was working the phones, desperately trying to get a republican to remove their name from the discharge petition. but they cannot stop the truth from coming out. now that adelita is here, we will ensure these files see the light of day and that justice is served. and let me close by saying how excited i am to work with adelita. she is a strong voice for working people and will be an invaluable member of congress.

[speaking spanish] now it is my pleasure to invite cac whip silvia garcia. rep. garcia: thank you, and thank you to the chair.

thank you to our caucus chair and thank you to the people of arizona in sending us adelita to congress. you know, you said it in your remarks, which were excellent remarks, and you're absolutely correct because i know that there will be many others to follow you because your record is there, your father's legacy is there, and we know the good people that come from arizona. so muchimas gracias, thank you for joining us. you know, when i think about it, who would really want to mess with somebody named adelita? [laughter] i mean, not only is it a great name, but it stands for warriors and fighters. and that's what she is. i looked at her when she was getting sworn in. i mean, imagine the courage that she has. the determination, the patience,

the stamina, the grace. i've watched her. she has been doing all of this with all of this pressure with great grace. and seven weeks is a long time to have to wait, and it is just shameful that the speaker would not do his job. because that's what it boils down to. he had no respect for the voters of arizona. he was about bending the knee to the wishes of the felon in the white house, to protect that felon and other felons and pedophiles that may be implicated through the epstein files. but you know what, it took a latina con cojones to do it. [laughter] because she is not only making history, as she said, she's the first latina coming from arizona.

as one of two first latinos coming from texas, welcome, girl. so that's history already. and now she's waited for 50 days. again, history. the longest that someone said to ever wait in the united states congress to be sworn in. that's shameful history on the part of speaker johnson, but it's history nonetheless. now she's making history again because her first action was to , go there and sign that petition. and if we force that vote, it will be a historic vote because we will be making something that many people try to hide, many people wanted to avoid. many excuses were made, but but for this one strong latina with courage, it would not have happened. so today, as our caucus chair

mentioned, the oversight committee has given us more emails that implicate the felon in the white house even more. and i'm very hopeful that we will get a vote and that we will get justice for all those victims, and that we will put an end to some of the predatory practices of not only all those implicated in the epstein files, but others who may have also exhibited that conduct. because it is just wrong. but let's all remember that it took our adelita to ensure that justice would be done for all those victims. with that, i yield back and we ask our vice chair norma torres from california to come up next.

rep. torres: thank you, chairman espailla. thank you, caucus chairman peter aguilar for your leadership and bringing all of us together here. today's a very powerful day. for democracy, for representation. but most of all for me, it's a powerful day for latinas in congress. latinas who have to fight twice as hard to simply be heard. since the 19th amendment, women have had to fight to keep our seat at the table. for latinas, that fight is relentless. we work twice as hard and push twice as far. and they will stop at nothing to take what is ours. under this administration, the republican majority, those attacks have only doubled down.

they want power over everything. and they target women without shame. after more than seven weeks of delay, congresswoman adelita grijalva has finally taken the seat that she rightfully earned. -- rightfully earned on the floor of the united states congress, representing the people of arizona's 7th district. but we will not forget that for all of these weeks, she has had to work without staff, without the office equipment, without the security support that is afforded to every other member of congress. her swearing in, she becomes the

218th signatory on the epstein -- the e-file petition. a fight for both transparency and women's voices. she will never back down. and neither are we. she brings roots, courage, and the fearlessness to stand her ground even though her position had been denied. we are so honored to welcome adelita to the rank and file membership of the congressional hispanic caucus and the big and powerful democratic caucus. we will too earn our majority in the next election. [speaking spanish]

now i would like to welcome vice chair andrea salinas. rep. salinas: good afternoon, and i want to thank the congressional hispanic caucus and our chair, congressman

aguilar. and first off, felicidadas to congresswoman alita grijava. for more than two months mike , johnson delayed, denied, and lied to avoid swearing in congresswoman grijava. -- congresswoman grijalva. for speaker johnson, it was about silence. this was about silencing congresswoman grijalva. this was about silencing hundreds of thousands of arizonans, robbing them of their voice in congress, and this was about silencing the victims of jeffrey epstein, all to protect donald trump. however, let congresswoman grijalva's swearing in be a lesson to all of us. she, her constituents, and the victims will not be silenced. ultimately, justice will prevail and the truth will come to light. that is what today is about. but this victory also serves as

a warning. what lengths will mike johnson and republicans go to to deny the people their voice and strip democrats of their power? so while we should celebrate today as a victory for the congresswoman, her constituents, her family and the victims, we must not ignore what republicans are willing to do to cling to power and to hide from inconvenient truths. again, felicidades. and next, i would like to welcome congresswoman emily randall from the great state of washington. rep. randall: it's about time. congratulations to my colleague, congresswoman grijalva. i know that you are going to

represent arizona's 7th district and our nation so admirably, because you already have. for the last 50 days, congresswoman grijalva has had to fight harder than any member of congress before to do her constitutional duty. to be seated after she was duly elected to represent her constituents, even when she isn't able to pay staff, to hire folks, to get set up. her neighbors deserve her to be well supported in this job. her neighbors deserved her to be able to do her constitutional duty sooner, but she wasted no time, not only in working hard these last 50 days, but in taking up the pen immediately after she was sworn in to be the 218th signature on the discharge petition to release the epstein files. as a member of the house oversight committee, i'm appalled that speaker johnson and house republicans would have

prevented the proper representation of arizona's 7th in order to prevent the release of the epstein files by shutting down the entire government for 43 days. avoiding transparency, avoiding accountability, and keeping secrets for the president. 43 days too long. congresswoman grijalva finally being sworn in means so much for her constituents. the end of her constituents' taxation without representation and her neighbors finally having a voice in government, but it also means so much for the voices of the survivors. women and girls who were trafficked and assaulted, who are finally going to have their stories told in the light. my colleagues and i on the house oversight committee and the larger democratic caucus will keep fighting to make sure these files are released. thank you to congresswoman grijalva for doing your duty, and i'm so honored to serve with

you. i would now like to pass the microphone back to our chairman, congressman espailla. rep. espailla: thank you. thank you. we've heard from the powerful voices of the women of the congressional hispanic caucus. and it is not by coincidence. or by chance that you have heard from them today. because latino women in our community are the center. the spinal cord of our families. they are unafraid and they are strong voices that lead our families, our children and they lead men. and so of course, we're here with them today and we have

listened to their points of view on this issue of the epstein files, and i'm sure all of us have had [speaking spanish] . tell me who you walk with, and i will tell you who you are. so we heard adelita today on the floor. she was sworn in. speak truth to power, unafraid. i don't think anyone here could say that she feared anyone on that floor. and she spoke eloquently, decisively.

she waited for weeks to say that important message as she was sworn in and just before she signed that petition. we have her with us today. [speaking spanish] [applause] rep. grijalva: thank you to the congressional hispanic caucus for organizing this. thank you for all of you for standing by me during the last 50 days. 50 days is a very long time, and you know, standing through the last few weeks through this obstruction in my swearing in. and as latinas, arizona's first latina chicana member of congress. today is a historic day for southern arizona, for women, for chicanos and chicanas everywhere. we shattered the glass ceiling together, and i'm grateful to my community and to the leaders who paved the way. but this historic moment comes with a sober reality.

my swearing in was delayed by 50 days, the longest in modern history. and let's understand very clearly that if i were a republican, i would not have waited this long. if i were a man, i would not have waited this long. we all know that the rules are always different for women of color and people of caller. we have to fight against that. there is no way that this can ever happen again to anyone. at all. we're going to push forward bipartisan legislation to ensure it, because we cannot allow this to happen to anybody again. for one individual to be able to silence 800,000 people, it's unconscionable. it's just not ok. this representation is so important.

it's important to me as the daughter of congressman grijalva who served our community for 50 years total, 22 years in congress. people in our community know what it's like to depend on a grijalva. and for us to not have that representation was painful. but worse, in adding insult to injury is when speaker johnson would placate and make misogynistic comments about what i should and should not be doing. they all know better than i do. if you don't have a budget, you can do to anything, and that's the situation i have been in for the last 50 days. and so speaker johnson purposefully obstructed my swearing in by canceling vote after vote, and the epstein files discharge petition sat one signature short. with my signing, we move one step closer to the truth, the truth that they will try to

deny, but that survivors deserve their day of justice and the american people demand it. we also stand on the eve of another vote that shows how little republicans understand working families. they've already passed a bill stripping health insurance for more than 15 million people. now they're pushing one that will send premiums skyrocketing for 22 million more. these attacks fall hardest on vulnerable communities, especially latino children who rely on medicaid and chipp because their parents work jobs without employer-provided coverage. but the congressional hispanic caucus understands what's at stake, and we will stand together to defend families, protect our democracy, and demand accountability from those who abuse power. and finally, my overwhelming election in arizona sends a clear message. this nation, built by immigrants, strengthened by diversity, will choose hope over hate and leadership over chaos

every time. we are here to build, not tear down our shared future. muchas gracias, thank you so much. [applause] rep. espailla: questions? >> my question is for congresswoman grijelda, but i will do the question in spanish. [speaking spanish] rep. grijalva: [speaking spanish]

>> any other questions? >> thank you so much. democrats continue to say that it's republicans who are keeping the epstein files hidden, but congressman tim burchett is just reporting that he tried to bring a release of the epstein files to the floor immediately, and democrats blocked it. do you have any insight as to what happened there and why? >> when was that? >> he just reported about minutes ago. four>> i think it's incredibly clear that republicans will stop at nothing to avoid the disclosure of this information. so what that means is 218 signatures were reached, despite white house efforts even at the 11th hour to summon people down to the white house to try to get them to remove their signatures.

those members said no, and so our rules indicate at 218 members get a vote. and so that's what we're looking forward to. we're not looking for people to avoid taking a vote on this, and that's what that effort was. that is a weak effort to try to allow republicans to pass this measure without being accountable and showing whether they support this or not. so let's call the vote. the discharge process has its rules. let's bring the question up. nothing prevents the speaker from bringing this up tomorrow if he wanted it done. but if he drags it out and if the will of that bipartisan coalition holds, we will have this before us in a couple weeks. but we're interested in every member in this chamber putting their vote up, either yes or a no. and then we'll see what happens

from there. >> in the back. >> how does it feel to hear that word congressman? rep. grijalva: it has been a minute. been waiting for a little while. it is a little surreal i have to say. people keep asking me how i feel and honestly maybe i will have a better answer tomorrow but right now we've waited so long you know i'm looking at my kids and my mom and my husband and they are all looking at us like what does that feel like. i'm like i have no idea. i think that i think correcting people for so long this a congresswoman and i'm like no would select. now i don't have to say that. a very humble and honored to represent southern arizona. it's a beautiful community that deserves full representation. what we've been able to provide

them is just a little bit of a piecemeal and so truly being able to serve the people of this beautiful diverse community is really incredible. >> thank you so much everybody. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] >> for the longest government shutdown now in the rearview mirror congress returns in the week ahead for legislative business and votes. the house is back on monday at noon eastern. later in the week members are expected to vote on legislation to propel the justice department to release all of its files on jeffrey epstein. speaker mike johnson announced plans to schedule a floor vote after 218 members signed the discharge petition to force the house to action. lawmakers will vote to repeal a provision included in the new government funding law allowing senators to sue the federal government for seizing their phone records without being

notified. the senate is back in session on tuesday. senators are expected to continue work on 2020 six federal spending legislation including full year funding for the defense and health and human services departments. only parts of the federal government are funded through january 30 included in the new law to end the shutdown. watch live coverage of the house on c-span. see the center on c-span2 and our congressional coverage available on our free video app c-span now and our website c-span.org. >> congressman: welcome to the program. >> good to see c-span is funded by the government. >> it's not funded by the government. we never have. >> what a disappointment to elon musk. >> appreciate the opportunity to come out. >> i wish we had a thousand c-span's cross the media

spectrum. unfortunately we don't. >> c-span is a huge asset to america not just the coverage that we get of both chambers but programs like washington journal that allow policymakers, lawmakers, personalities to come on and have this question time during washington journal. it is a huge benefit. i hope these streaming services carry c-span as well because these are important services. >> i'm thrilled this time on washington journal i'm getting a lot of substantive questions from across the political aisle. >> our country would be a better place if they watched one hour a week. thank you very much for your service. >> today california democratic senator adam schiff sits down for an interview with terry moran at the texas tribune festival in austin. watch it live at 3:15 eastern.

c-span our free mobile app and online at c-span.org. >> c-span, democracy unfiltered. we are funded by these television companies and more. >> affordable internet to families in need. new tech to boys and girls club's and support to veterans. whenever and wherever it matters most. we will be there. >> cox supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you front row seat to democracy. >> on friday president trump to part of >> the white house for florida >> where he is spending the weekend. ahead of his arrival he talks to reporters aboard air force one and spoke on the latest tariff exemption, military operations against alleged venezuelan drug boats and files related to convicted sex offender and